Import and export prices, October 2012

November 13, 2012

The price index for U.S. imports rose 0.5 percent in October, following increases of 1.1 percent in September and 1.2 percent in August. Higher fuel and nonfuel prices each contributed to the October advance. U.S. export prices were unchanged in October after increasing 0.8 percent in September.

1-month and 12-month percent change in the U.S. Import Price Index, October 2011–October 2012

Month

1-month percent change

12-month percent change

Oct 2011

-0.4

11.1

Nov 2011

0.7

10.1

Dec 2011

0.0

8.5

Jan 2012

0.0

6.9

Feb 2012

0.0

5.1

Mar 2012

1.4

3.5

Apr 2012

-0.1

0.8

May 2012

-1.5

-0.8

Jun 2012

-2.3

-2.5

Jul 2012

-0.7

-3.3

Aug 2012

1.2

-1.8

Sep 2012

1.1

-0.5

Oct 2012

0.5

0.4

Import fuel prices increased 1.2 percent in October following advances of 4.5 percent in September and 6.1 percent in August. Prior to August, fuel prices had trended down overall in 2012.

The price index for nonfuel imports advanced 0.3 percent in October following a 0.2-percent rise the previous month.

Export prices recorded no change in October as rising nonagricultural prices were offset by a downturn in prices for agricultural exports.

These data are from the International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. To learn more, see “U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — October 2012” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-2205.